A telecommunications network is composed of a variety of components, including switches, routers, signal-control points, and a litany of other network elements. Switches communicate data through trunks and trunk groups. A trunk is a communications pathway such as a group of circuits that carry traffic in and out of a switch or a channel connecting multiple exchanges. Data is routed through a communications network by identifying source and destination points. For instance, telephone numbers are associated with central offices or switches according to the Local Exchange Routing Guide (LERG).
The LERG is a dynamic reference that identifies NPA-NXX routing information as well as network-element and equipment designation. Well known in the art, the LERG contains a listing of local routing data such as destination codes, switching entities, rate centers, and locality information. An NPA can be an area code. There are two general categories of NPAs: geographic and nongeographic. Geographic NPAs route data based on geographic destinations whereas nongeographic NPAs (such as 800, 900, 700, etc.) route data independent of geographic destination. The NXX code (central office code or CO code) is typically a three-digit switch-entity indicator that is defined by the “D,” “E,” and “F” digits of a 10-digit telephone number within the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). An NXX code can currently contain 10,000 station numbers. The NANP is the numbering plan currently used in the United States and other locales such as Canada, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and certain Caribbean Islands. The NANP format is a 10-digit number that consists of a 3-digit NPA code (Area Code), 3-digit NXX code (Exchange), and 4-digit code (Line).
As new NPA-NXX codes are provided by the LERG, they need to be associated with one or more devices, typically first and second end-offices identified by respective Common Language Location Identifiers (CLLI). A CLLI is a standard unique identifier that states the location of a network element. Thus, a network-translations analyst must route the NPA-NXX to the appropriate CLLI(s) so that the data can then be communicated on to a local switch or end device. But this has historically been a crude manual process, even when analysts were only concerned with routing an NPA-NXX to a single destination point.
As networks grow, however, some COs must receive multiple trunk groups, further compounding the difficulty of attempting to properly associate NPA-NXX codes with CLLI codes and building out the routing of the applicable switches. Some calls can route over some of the trunk groups while some calls cannot. Moreover, additional networks may need to be added to a first network, creating the possibility for multiple—rather than single—terminating sets of trunk groups and/or switches for the same NPA-NXX range. The multiple terminating switches may be from different vendors, further complicating the building of correct switch-update transactions. Switches made by different vendors are often updated with different update strings. If the process were manual, individuals would need to learn how to format switch-update commands for each of the types of switches to be updated. The more terminating switches, and the more data that needs to be provided, the greater the likelihood is that an analyst will mis-key in data or otherwise input erroneous routing information. Providing erroneous routing data or a bad switch-update transaction can cause great problems within a communications network, not limited to calls not being connected, calls routed to erroneous destinations, or even customers having no service at all.
There is a need for a method and system that automatically identifies switch/trunk-group combinations that are required to implement a dial plan where multiple trunk groups terminate to a common device. The current state of the art could be improved by a system that automatically configures routes and updates switches incident to receiving an NPA-NXX address and one or more termination-device identifiers.